Sterling Fends Off Avila’s Third Quarter Push

STERLING, Kan. – Down by seven at halftime, Avila women's basketball (2-9, 2-4 KCAC) surged back to get back to within a point halfway through the third quarter, but Sterling (5-5, 4-2 KCAC) buckled down from there and ultimately pulled away in the fourth for a 66-51 victory on Saturday afternoon in Sterling.

The Warriors have become the class of the KCAC really since Avila became part of the league in 2018, but this year's Warrior team has not quite been up to the very lofty standards of the program's recent history to this point this season, and Avila went into Saturday's game prepared to bring their best against a program not many KCAC schools have had a chance against prior to this year.

And for a long time Saturday, Avila more than had a chance. After a slow but even first five minutes for both teams, the Warriors were in the driver's seat for most of the rest of the match, but the Eagles were right there in striking distance the whole time until the very late stages.

Sterling's biggest lead in the first quarter was five points, and the Eagles kept them within six until Korynn Clason hit a three and Kayla Morris followed with a layup to push the Warriors' lead out to 31-20 with three minutes left in the first half. The Eagles had been quiet in the second quarter until Hannah Smith gave them some life with a late three-pointer, and Sterling took a 32-25 lead into the intermission.

The Eagles were in need of a sparkplug on offense, and, as she has done so often over the last month, Madilyn Melton was there to provide. The Eagles repeatedly exposed the Warriors' interior defense by tossing in lobs for Melton around the left block, and she finished nearly every single time. Multiple different Eagles were able to feed her, and multiple different Warriors attempted to defend her, but regardless of the rest of the alignment the result was nearly the same: Melton converted a layup to give Avila a fighting chance.

That was very much Avila's recipe for success in the third quarter. Trailing by seven less than two minutes in, Melton scored four straight layups over the course of three minutes, sandwiching one response bucket from Clason, and the Eagles cut their deficit all the way down to one, 36-35, with 5:21 to play.

Sterling had seen enough. Kali Briar, who had been shut down to that point, erupted for a pair of threes and eight straight points overall to swiftly put Sterling back up by nine, and even though Melton scored four more points and Anastasia Wright added three in the final minute to get Avila back within 50-42 after three quarters, the Eagles were not able to fully stop the bleeding.

Avila got as close as five points early in the fourth off another deep ball from Smith, but the Eagles went silent over the final few minutes while the Warriors took advantage, allowing Sterling to pull away for a 66-51 victory that looks a lot more comprehensive than it truly was for most of the match.

Clason, coming off one of the highest-scoring games in KCAC history in Sterling's previous outing, led the Warriors with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Briar scored 12 with five assists. Melton led all players with 26 points, the most any Eagle has scored in a game this season, on 13-of-17 shooting. Smith added in 12 points; Hannah Pinkston scored four points with three rebounds, five assists and two steals; Wright had a nice day off the bench with five points and three boards in 20 minutes.

Up next, Avila women's basketball has a little time off before the Eagles play their second exhibition game against an NCAA Division II school on Tuesday, December 19. Avila will make the short trip north to Liberty to face William Jewell with tipoff set for 1 PM; details on how to watch and follow along will be posted on our website, avilaathletics.com, when they are available.